As a student project, my classmate and I were asked to add an update feature for our client, HandUp. Normally this would be easy, but the people providing the updates are homeless. So we needed to look a little deeper to find a way to interact with them.

1. Design by: Michael Bush and Ed Lewis
Student Project. General Assembly
UXDI Winter 2013

2. About the Product:
HandUp is a website that enables people to donate money towards the
needs of homeless people in San Francisco. It does this by partnering with
a group that already works with the homeless and unlike other charities,
100% of the donation goes to the receivers and donors can direct
donations to specific people.
About the Project:
The HandUp team at General Assembly was looking to create a way to
deepen the connection between donors and members with updates and
donor comments. This connection is expected to be good for encouraging
donors to make more donations in the future.

3. HELPING OUT
$

4. HELPING OUT
Perpetuating problem?
Paying for booze or drugs?
Having an impact?
Do I need to give every time?
Is this weird?
Am I doing the right thing?
$

5. HELPING OUT
$
goods
services

6. HIGH-LEVEL USER JOURNEY
Janice
Donate
Donor sees a
person in need
Visits the person’s
profile online to donate
Donation delivered
as limited gift card

7. HIGH-LEVEL USER JOURNEY
Janice
Donate
Donor sees a
person in need
Visits the person’s
profile online to donate
Existing
Donation delivered
as limited gift card
Member provides
an update after
receiving donation
Donor responds with
supportive comment
Our goal

8. DESIGN CONSTRAINTS
• Support devices members use - Many members have cell phones
with smaller screens than smartphones. This means there’s limited
space for text interactions.
• Very limited staff time - Cut out as much staff time needed as
services are already stretched thin and members can only meet in
person once a week right now.
• Sensitivity in messaging - Messaging needs to be true to the needs
of the people being served.

9. Prototype: http://z3t7dx.axshare.com

10. A tale of two screens

11. DONOR

12. DONOR
MEMBER

13. DONOR
MEMBER

14. DONOR
MEMBER

15. DONOR
MEMBER

16. DONOR
MEMBER

17. DONOR
MEMBER

18. DONOR
MEMBER

19. ACTORS
Member
Donor
- Members (receive money)
from donors.
- Donors (give money) to
members.
- Members (thank donors) with
updates and comments
- Donors support members with
(comments on updates).
HandUp staff
- Staff (moderate updates and
comments) from donors.
HandUp system
- System (sends texts) to donors to
encourage them to post an update
- System (sends texts) to members with
messages from donors

20. submit
donor gives
money to
member
yes
system sends
email and SMS
to member
member picks
up gift card from
service provider?
1-3 days pass
no
system sends
email to donor

21. days pass
yes
member picks
up gift card from
service provider?
no
system sends
email to donor
24-48 hours
later
system sends
email and SMS to
member asking
for update
member replies
with update?
yes
1-7 days pass
no
system sends
message on to
staff

22. urs
submit
system sends
email and SMS to
member asking
for update
member replies
with update?
yes
1-7 days pass
system sends
message on to
staff
does staff think
update is OK to
publish?
no
yes
no
1-7 days pass
no
can it be edited
to be published?
yes
system posts
update to
member page and
alerts donors

23. submit
does staff think
update is OK to
publish?
yes
system posts
update to
member page and
alerts donors
submit
donor
comments on
update
system sends
comment to
member via
email/SMS
member receives
message
no
can it be edited
to be published?
yes
7 days pass

24. submit
donor gives
money to
member
yes
system sends
email and SMS
to member
member picks
up gift card from
service provider?
1-3 days pass
no
system sends
email to donor
24-48 hours
later
submit
system sends
email and SMS to
member asking
for update
member replies
with update?
yes
1-7 days pass
system sends
message on to
staff
does staff think
update is OK to
publish?
no
yes
system posts
update to
member page and
alerts donors
submit
donor
comments on
update
system sends
comment to
member via
email/SMS
member receives
message
no
1-7 days pass
no
can it be edited
to be published?
yes
7 days pass

25. submit
donor gives
money to
member
yes
system sends
email and SMS
to member
member picks
up gift card from
service provider?
1-3 days pass
no
system sends
email to donor
24-48 hours
later
submit
system sends
email and SMS to
member asking
for update
member replies
with update?
yes
1-7 days pass
system sends
message on to
staff
does staff think
update is OK to
publish?
no
yes
system posts
update to
member page and
alerts donors
submit
donor
comments on
update
system sends
comment to
member via
email/SMS
submit
member replies
to email or SMS?
yes
no
no
1-7 days pass
no
can it be edited
to be published?
does staff think
update is OK to
publish?
system adds
member reply as
new comment
yes
no
yes
7 days pass
7 days pass
7 days pass

26. Current
Update and comment process
submit
donor gives
money to
member
yes
system sends
email and SMS
to member
member picks
up gift card from
service provider?
1-3 days pass
no
system sends
email to donor
24-48 hours
later
submit
system sends
email and SMS to
member asking
for update
member replies
with update?
yes
1-7 days pass
system sends
message on to
staff
does staff think
update is OK to
publish?
no
yes
system posts
update to
member page and
alerts donors
Optional
submit
donor
comments on
update
system sends
comment to
member via
email/SMS
submit
member replies
to email or SMS?
yes
no
no
1-7 days pass
no
can it be edited
to be published?
does staff think
update is OK to
publish?
system adds
member reply as
new comment
yes
no
yes
7 days pass
7 days pass
7 days pass

27. C O M P E T I T I V E A N A LY S I S
updates
comments
donations to
people
goals
donation
amount
kickstarter
yes
yes
no
yes
any
indiegogo
yes
yes
yes
yes
any
rally.org
no
yes
no
yes
any
kiva zip
no
yes
yes
yes
2 options
crowdrise
no
no
yes
yes
any
watsi
no
no
yes
yes
any

28. I T E R AT I O N S
After conversations with stakeholders it quickly became clear that we
needed to enable a way for members to update without direct help. Since
cell phones are relatively common it became a useful tool in the whole
process. After that it we changed our focus from just the website to more of
a hybrid model so conversations could go back and forth between different
types of devices.

29. THANK YOU
Ed Lewis edlewis@gmail.com
Michael Bush michaelfbush@gmail.com